So I was driving home after my annual family Thanksgiving gorging and passed a Target store to see a line of waiting consumers already snaking around the block. Yup, Black Friday is here—the day after Thanksgiving, the start of the Christmas shopping season and, traditionally, the busiest retail sales day of the year.
So an official national holiday where we’re encouraged to eat until we pass out is followed by an unofficial national holiday where we’re encouraged to spend as much money as possible on flat-screen TVs that’ll be out of date in three months and clothes we’ll only wear once. No wonder the terrorists hate us.
Personally, I’ve never understood the appeal of the whole Black Friday thing. Frankly, I hate shopping, but even if I didn’t, there are very few things I’d be willing to camp out all night for that doesn’t involve a naked Megan Fox, whipped cream and a dwarf with a video camera.
Still, I get why Black Friday is such a big deal and why we should show our “gratitude”—the bargains are great and we need to help stimulate our economy like good capitalists or the terrorists win, but sorry, I’m still going to choose to opt out. And if that makes me un-American, then all I can say is–praise Allah!
So happy Black Friday to all! In the meantime, our friends at Taiwan’s Next Media Animation are back with their take on this special day; also explaining why it’s so important to our Asian brethren:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn5nS7s8SNU&feature=player_embedded
Camping out in the freezing cold for two days without a shower or toilet, all so you can get a laptop for 250 bucks? What is your time worth? I’d like to think that half the motivation for this insane behavior, in a time when communities larger than the immediate family – say, those built around church or tribe, are long gone – is to feel some sort of connection with our fellow hairless apes. Or not. Maybe it’s just the cheap laptop.
Huh. I don’t think I’ve ever participated in Black Friday. My friends say they do it to get Christmas shopping done in one shot but they shouldn’t even bother. Most people would appreciate a nice card with cash in it any day.
when you look at the “parents companies” of the tv networks, it’s obvious why black Friday is hyped up so much by the media.
and what does Islamphobia has anything to do with rampant consumerism?